The Oscars change the script: now 10 best-movie nominees

Michael Cieply

BEVERLY HILLS – The Oscars just got a whole lot bigger.

In a surprise announcement, the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences said yesterday it would double the number of nominees for the best-picture Oscar to 10 from 5, returning to a practice it used more than a half-century ago when the number of films released was larger.

The move constitutes the most radical revision of the Oscar-night ritual in recent memory.

“We will be casting our net wide,” Sidney Ganis, the academy's president, said in announcing the change at a morning news conference at the group's headquarters.

In a question-and-answer session that followed the announcement, Ganis said, “I would not be telling you the truth if I said the words 'Dark Knight' did not come up.”

This year, “The Dark Knight,” a critically acclaimed blockbuster, did not make the final list of nominees that included “Frost/Nixon,” “Milk,” “The Curious Case of Benjamin Button,” “The Reader” and the eventual winner, “Slumdog Millionaire.”

None of those films was as widely seen as “The Dark Knight” or the animated “Wall-E,” another favorite snubbed by the best-picture category, adding heat to a debate about whether Oscar voters had drifted too far from public taste.

Ganis said no changes had been made to other Oscar categories. He said the nominees wouldn't be subdivided, as with the Golden Globes, which are awarded for best drama, as well as best comedy or musical. All 10 nominees will compete for one best-picture award.

Ganis said the deliberations leading to the change began after this year's show when producers argued that it would have been better served by a broader range of nominees.

The discussion was later brought into focus by the academy's work on a retrospective of the films of 1939, when the list of best-picture nominees included “Gone With the Wind,” the eventual winner, in addition to “Ninotchka,” “Of Mice and Men,” “Dark Victory,” “Gone With the Wind,” “The Wizard of Oz,” “Goodbye, Mr. Chips,” “Love Affair,” “Stagecoach,” “Mr. Smith Goes to Washington” and “Wuthering Heights.”

From 1932 to 1943, Ganis said, the academy usually had 10 best-picture nominees, although in some years it had either 8 or 12.

In all, about 300 films were eligible for awards in 2008. Were that to hold going forward, roughly one of every 30 films would become a best-picture nominee.

While a best-picture nomination now becomes a bit easier for makers of documentaries, animated films and foreign-language films to aspire to, it may also dilute the value of that nomination. In the past, studios have built the marketing campaign for many films around a coveted best-picture nomination.

In a phone interview, Ganis said support for the change had been very strong among the academy's governors. He said the academy, which has about 6,000 voting members who work in the film industry, did not consult studios about the possible implications for business. “We're the arts organization, not the business organization,” he said.

At the same time, however, Ganis said the academy clearly hoped for a ratings bump from the change. “Our partners at ABC are very, very happy,” he said.

The surprise announcement is certain to trigger recalibration among studio executives, some of whom privately said after this year's ceremonies that they planned to step back from the expense of campaigning for Oscars, rather than risk throwing money after prizes that don't yield much in return at the box office.

Michael Moses, a spokesman for Universal Pictures, declined to comment on the change. Universal invested heavily in a campaign for “Frost/Nixon,” only to see the film come up short on Oscar night and at the box office.

Diana Loomis, a spokeswoman for Fox Searchlight, which released “Slumdog Millionaire,” also declined to comment.

A possible pitfall for studios is that a larger number of filmmakers will see awards potential in their own work and press for campaigns. “Who knows, there might even be a comedy” among the nominees next year, Ganis said.